Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Patterson Diary Transcription Continues

Friends of theSALINE VALLEY SALT TRAM

www.SaltTram.blogspot.com SalineValleySaltTram@gmail.comSalt Tram history is rapidly disappearing, and we are striving to rediscover the efforts of our forefathers in order to give proper recognition to their hopes, dreams and abundant sweat from an era that is rapidly fading from our memories. We are actively seeking out information about the mining of Salt in Saline Valley between 1903 and the 1940's, including: documents, photos, articles, stories, artifacts, etc. If you can help us out, please email us at the address above - Thank-you! --Tim and Brian Waag, the Waag brothers (aka E. Clampus Waagus).

Caution (PLEASE READ): Climbing around on the tramway is dangerous because its really old and defnitely unsafe, so don't even think about it. Shoot, just getting to it requires some perilous hiking, and if you don't believe me, just take a look at the Zig Zag Access Trail (or what's left of it). Plus, climbing on it weakens it and endangers your life. Also, the Saline Valley Salt Tram is on the National Register of Historic Places and should be treated with the respect that it deserves. What little remains is of great historic value, and should not be disturbed in any way. Heck, its probably against the law to move parts of the tram around, and certainly a crime to take home some of the few bits of it that remain (though you'd have to ask your friendly local BLM agent for details). So please treat it with the respect it deserves, so that future generations can enjoy whats left, without you messing it up. Really. Please. You can see its listing on the National Register of Historic Places at these web links:National Register of Historic Places 1National Register of Historic Places 2

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For an introduction to the diary of Henry Clifton Patterson, see this link on this website:

Photo 1 (click to enlarge): Henry Clifton Patterson in photo from World War I (photo courtesy of Patterson family).

Photo 2 (click to enlarge): The 6’ 7” tall Cliff standing at one of the Salt Tram Control Stations. The photo actually appears to say “Con. Sta. #29 - III”, which might mean that it is the Summit Station, although we need to go there in person to verify it on the ground. We don’t recall the geography around the Summit Station matching the photo, but it could. Note that this is the only known photo of Henry Clifton Patterson taken at the Salt Tram that survives, and it was discovered by the Patterson family during our visit with them in November 2009, where it fell out of the pages of an old book in their box of family photos! Needless to say, we were astounded and excited by this discovery of our favorite diarist in his working element. (photo courtesy of Patterson family).

Though I am only partially through the transcription of the entire diary, I'd like to include what I've completed so far on this page. Also, I included an sample page so you can see what it looks like - Thanks to the Patterson family of Bishop, California, we were able to make a high quality scan of the entire diary, and once I complete the transcription, we will make a book out of the diary that includes a high quality image of each diary page, a transcription of the page, and a Salt Tram-related interpretation of each page.

If you would like a PDF file containing the transcription and the interpretation, please email us at the contact info located on this web site. Note that anywhere it says "ower" in the diary transcription below, rather than "Tower", it is because in my original transcription, I created a special graphic for the way in which "Cliff" wrote the letter T in tower, which doesn't copy and past from my transcription document to this web page. Sorry! Also, I have created a correlation of towers to activities from the diary so that we can reconstruct the construction activity itself. Here is what we have so far:

DIARY ENTRY TRANSCRIPTION

December 1, 1911:
Fri. Went up to Dry Camp and leveled up ’s #15 and 16.

March 10, 1912:
Sun. Layed off & came to Swansea. Cross-sectioned for terminal afternoon.

March 11, 1912:
Mon. Left Swansea and went To Los Pinos and packed up form lumber to 23. [ink spill on margin of this page, though it does NOT interference with legibility for transcription purposes].

March 12, 1912:
1/2 [in large letters to left of diary entry]. Tues. Went down to Gravel and got 1x4s for slats. quitt at noon on acct of snow.

March 13, 1912:
1/2 [in large letters to left of diary entry]. Wed. Laid off in A.M. on account of snow but set forms in P.M. in 23.

March 14, 1912:
Thurs. Set 26 forms in Station 23.

March 15, 1912:
Fri. Moved camp to Charcoal and set forms in 23.

March 16, 1912:
Sat. Finished 23 at 11 P.M. and started on 22. Excavating. 2 drillers and 2 Eng.

March 17, 1912:
Sun. 1 drillers and 2 Eng e)cc. [“e)cc” is a word or phrase that I cannot figure out how to interpret]. 1/2 day 1 driller all day. 1 driller 2 Eng set forms 1/2 day 1 Carpenter all day.

T6 leveled up (2/10/12)
T7 CONTROL STATION 1 (CHANGE OF DIRECTION STATION)
leveled up (1/27/12)
T8 leveled up (1/27/12)
T9 leveled up (1/25/12)
leveled up (1/28/12)
T10 leveled up (1/24/12)
T11 leveled up (1/23/12)
T12 leveled up (1/23/12)
put in Cut stakes for excavation between 12 and 13 (1/28/12)
T13 leveled up (1/21/12)
leveled up 13 (1/23/12)
put in Cut stakes for excavation between 12 and 13 (1/28/12)
T14 CONTROL STATION 2
leveled up (1/21/12)
raised T#14 so as to cut out #115 (1/22/12)
went down and layed out station #14 (2/24/12)
T15 blew down (12/7/11)
Al-Earl-Cliff leveled up on Section 4 (1/6/12)
leveled up (1/21/12)
leveled up (1/23/12)
T16 started on (1/25/12)
leveled up (1/26/12)
T17 leveled up (12/2/11),
leveled up Section 5 (1/19/12)
T18 leveled up (12/2/11)
leveled up Section 5 (1/20/12
T19 leveled up on Section 4 (1/6/12)
leveled up Section 5 (1/19/12)
shoveled snow all day at stations 19 and 21 (3/22/12)
T20 leveled up (12/2/11)
went up to summit & got elevations of piers in D20 (1/7/12)
Earl and Al went up & leveled T20 Section 5 (1/18/12)
T21 leveled up (12/3/11)
shoveled snow all day at stations 19 and 21 (3/22/12)
(2 drillers, 2 Eng., 1 Carp.) working all day on Station 21 (3/23/12)
(1 driller, 2 Eng., 1 Carpenter) Station 21 (3/24/12)
(2 Eng, 2 Drillers, 1 Carp.) set 27 forms (assumedly at station 21?) (3/25/12)
finished 21 at noon (3/27/12)
T22 leveled up (12/3/11)
went up to summit & got elevations of piers in D22 (1/7/12)
finished 23 at 11pm and started on 22 (3/16/12)
made & set forms in Station 22 (3/18/12)
T23 leveled up (12/3/11)
layed off C. R. (Curved Rail?) D23 (1/9/12)
went to Los Pinos and packed up form lumber to 23 (3/11/12)
set forms in pm in 23 (3/13/12)
set 26 forms in Station 23 (3/14/12)
moved camp to Charcoal and set forms in 23 (3/15/12)
finished 23 at 11pm and started on 22 (3/16/12)
T24 leveled up (12/3/11)
went back as T had blown down & leveled it up again (12/9/11)
went up to summit & got elevations of piers in D24 (1/7/12)
moved to Gravel and layed out D24 for drillers (2/25/12)
commenced on Station 24 (3/7/12)
set forms in Station 24 (3/9/12)
T25 leveled up (12/3/11)
layed out (1/29/12)
moved to summit and put in anchor bolt lines for station 25 (2/23/12)
put in center line of bents in station 25 (2/26/12)
finished 26 at 10:30 and commenced on 25 (3/2/12)
Finished 25 at noon and started in on station #27 (3/3/12)
T26 leveled up (12/3/11)
moved to summit & gave elevations for piers in D26 (1/3/12)
took elev. and measurements on station 26 (2/26/12)
worked on station #26 in pm - Al, Earl and I (2/27/12)
worked on 26 in P.M. (2/28/12)
worked on 26 setting forms and anchor bolts (2/29/12)
worked on 26 setting forms (3/1/12)
finished 26 at 10:30 and commenced on 25 (3/2/12)
27 left cuz rocks needed blowing out (12/4/11), went back to dig out legs and level up (12/5/11)
layed off C. R. (Curved Rail?) D27 (1/10/12)
took elev. of ground in D27 (2/25/12)
Finished 25 at noon and started in on station #27 (3/3/12)
Put in forms in Station 27 (3/5/12)
Put in forms in Station 27 (3/6/12)
Finished D27 at 2pm (3/7/12)
T28 leveled up (12/4/11)
T29 leveled up (12/4/11)
Lined in Tower # 29 (3/7/12)
T30 leveled up (12/5/11)
layed out 30 (2/14/12)
finished laying out D30 (2/15/12)
went up to 30 and started to blow off rock, then went to gravel for powder (3/29/12).
T31 leveled up (12/5/11)
layed out anchor bolts for drillers 31 (2/14/12)
set five forms in D31 (2/15/12)
finished setting forms in station 31 (2/16/12)
T32 leveled up (12/7/11)
went up to summit & got elevations of piers in D32 (1/7/12)
layed out and concreted anchor bolts in station 32 (2/17/12)
set forms and concreted anchor bolts in station 32 (2/18/12)
concreted anchor bolts and set forms in D32 (2/19/12)
concreted anchor bolts and set forms in station 32 (2/20/12)
finished station #32 (2/21/12)
moved to Swansea and took elevations of piers of Station # 32 (3/28/12)
T33 leveled up (12/7/11)
took elevations of pier in D33,
set anchor bolts in D33 (2/4/12)
set anchor bolts for the drillers in D33 (2/7/12)
concreted anchor bolts in D33 (2/8/12)
set forms for piers and anchor bolts (2/9/12)
set forms D33 (2/10/12)
set forms 2/3 of day D33 (2/11/12)
set forms in D33 (2/12/12)
finished D33 (2/13/12)
took elev. of piers in 33 (2/19/12)
T34 leveled up (12/8/11)
layed out D34 (1/15/12)
set anchor bolts D34 (2/1/12)
set 4 forms / 2 concrete men helped drill (2/2/12)
set 12 forms in station / waited for drills in the morning (2/3/12)
set forms in D34 (2/4/12)
set forms in D34 (2/5/12)
set anchor bolts for Bent K.L.M. in D34 (2/6/12)
set forms in D34 (2/7/12)
finished D34 (2/8/12)
took elev. of concrete piers in D34 (2/13/12)
T35 leveled up (12/8/11)
put in grade lines for excavations for A & T35 (1/12/12)
cross-sectioned for A&T D35
T36 leveled up (12/9/11)
releveled up (12/20/11)
T37 worked on T but didn’t finish (12/10/11)
releveled up (12/20/11)
T38 leveled up (12/20/11)
T39 leveled up (12/19/11)
T40 leveled up (12/19/11)
T41 leveled up (12/19/11)
T42 leveled up (12/18/11)
T43 leveled up (12/18/11)
T44 moved up to summit & ran line (12/16/11)
leveled up (12/17/11)
T45 moved up to summit & ran line (12/16/11)
leveled up (12/17/11)
T46 moved up to summit & ran line (12/16/11)
leveled up (12/17/11)
T115 put in T115 (1/11/12)
raised T#14 so as to cut out #115 (1/22/12)